US743130A - Mechanism for accentuating one or more notes in mechanically-actuated musical apparatus. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTED NOV. 3, 1908. F, YOUNG.

MECHANISM FOR AGOENTUAIING ONE OR MORE NOTES IN MEGHANIQALLY AGTUATED MUSICAL APPARATUS.

no MODEL.

WITNE SSES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 14, 1903.

7 SHEETSSHEET l.

imw V WAD/2 ATTORNEY? No. 743,130. PATENTED NOV. 3, 1903. F. YOUNG.

MECHANISM FOR AOOENTUATINGONE OR MORE NOTES IN MEOHANIGALLY AG-TUATED MUSICAL APPARATUS.

' APPLIOATION FILED MAR. 14. 1903.

N0 MODEL.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

w Al N WITNEI'SSIES: Q 1 W INVENTOR L6 ATTORNEYS No. 743,130. PATENTED NOV. 3, 1903.

F. YOUNG.

MECHANISM FOR AGGENTUATING ONE-"10R MORE NOTES 'IN 'MECHANIGALLY AGTUATED MUSICAL APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED M R. 14, 1903. A A 7 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

IIIIIl/IIIIIII/ vial/I14 F INVENTOR I ATTORNEY- 7 WITNESSESK a. 73/w )5.7 J.

No. 743,130. PATENTED NOV. 3, 1903.v

- F. YOUNG.

MECHANISM FOR AGOENTUATING- ONE OR MORE NOTES IN MEGHANIGALLY AOTUATED MUSICAL APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 14, 190s.

7 SHEETS-SHEIJT 4.

N0 MODEL.

0 o e o air m m u o o 0 00 .m. h voo INVENTOR BYMJ WITNESSES: Q. 24% )6 A- ATTURN E"! S;

No. 743,130. PATENTBD NOV. 3, 1903. F. YOUNG.

MECHANISM FOR AOOENTUATING ONE OR MORE NOTES IN MEGHANIUALLY AGTUATBD MUSICAL APPARATUS.

APPLIUATION FILED MAR. 14. 1903. NO MODEL. 7 SHEET$-SHE.BT 5.

WITNESSES: V MENTOR 4 A g r,

No. 743,130. PATENTED NOV. 8 1903. F. YOUNG. MECHANISM FOR AGOENTUATING (ME OR MORE NOTES IN MEOHANICALLY AOTUATBD MUSIGAL APPARATUS.

AYPLIOATION FILED MAR. 14, 1003.

7 SHEETSSEEET 6.

N0 MODEL.

Q R Wk. \w m. b/mflm 9 m v m m WW M J xwxgw www \\D L S M Q o O 1 PM,

No. 743,130. PATENTED NOV. 3,-1903. F. YOUNG.

MECHANISM FOR AOOENTUATENG ONE OR MORE NOTES IN MECHANICALLY AOTUATED MUSICAL APPARATUS.

' APPLOATION FILED MA .14, 1903, N0 MODEL. 1 R 7 SHEETSSHBET 7.

WITNESS E S: I W NVENTOR w BY/OCGAIWu flrv-wu ATTORNEY57/ UNITED STATES FRANCIS YOUNG, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE AEOLIAN COM- Iatented November 3, 1903 PATENT OFFICE.

PANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

MECHANISM FOR ACCENTUATING ONE OR MORE NOTES IN MECHANlCALLY-ACTUATED MUSICAL APPARATUS.

for playing them.

lion through certain parts of Fig. on the SPECIFICATION forming part of Lettersllatent No. 743,130, dated November 3, 1908.

Application filed March 14, 1903.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS YOUNG,'a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York city, New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mechanism for Accentuating One or More Notes in Mechanically 7 Actuated Musical Apparatus, of which invention the following is a specification, accompanied by drawings, which illustrate certain preferred forms thereof.

The object of the invention is the accentuation of single notes or of ranges of notes in instruments for playing pianos and other musical instruments or in mechanism incorporated in pianos or other musical instruments The invention is described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings as being applied to certain known and used forms of mechanism,and theimprovements constituting the present invention are enumerated in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional front view of a pianola to which the present improvement is shown applied. Fig. 2 is a vertical front to rear section thereof. Fig. 3 is a view in detailed section, on a larger scale, showing certain of the novel features as applied to asingle one of the wellknown note-playing mechanisms. Figs. 4 and 5 are detailed views, partly in section, of certain other parts. Fig. 6 is a vertical secline 5 5. Fig. 7- is a vertical front to rear section showing -a modified form of the invention in which manually-actuated pins are replaced by a sliding valve. Figs. 8, 9, and 10 are detailed drawings, on a larger scale, showing the sliding valve and its connections. Fig. 11 is a detail of the pneumatic-valves for one note. Figs. 12, 13, and 14. are respectively a front to rear-section, a transverse section, and a detailed plan view of certain parts, showing a further modification. Fig. 15 is a front elevation with the front of the case removed and some parts shown in section to illustrate the most improved though not the simplest form or modification of the invention. Figs. 16, 17, l8, and 19 are detail views, in vertical section, horizontal section,

Serial No. 147,741. (No model.)

21 and 22 show details thereof.

Throughout the different views similar reference letters or figures indicate corresponding parts or sections.

It is old and well known in many forms to operate striking-levers or m usic-making mech anism by means of a perforated sheet of paper which travels over a tracker-board. It is equally well known in many forms to control primary pneumatics by such a trackerboard and its connections and to cause the primary pneumatics to operate secondary pneumatics which in turn'control the pneu-. matically-operated mechanism for effecting the playing. It is also old and well known to provide levers and connections for varying the wind-pressure or wind-suction, so as to modify the musical expression and to cause forte and piano effects. Devices, automatic and other, have-been invented or suggested for suddenlyincreasing or decreasingthe pressure that is applied to operate certain notes. Also it is old and well known to have two or more different reservoirs or sources of differing pressures or tensions for operating various parts of pianolas and other mechanicallyplaying instruments.

In the drawings I have selected for illustration of the old parts to which the invention is applicable a well-known forin of instrument, and it is not therefore necessary to describe in detail the'old and well-known parts thereof.

The essence of the present invention consists in providing or applying to certain old parts a means for accentuating any one note or a few notes without simultaneously alfecting adjacent notes or connections. "Another part of the invention enables the operator to accentuate at will series of notes above or below any note.

In the preferred way of carrying out the invention the pneumatic mechanism for playing each note is provided with the usual sources of operating wind and the usual means for varying the expression. In addition thereto it is provided'wit'h a high-tensionconnection and devices whereby increased force may be applied to the pneumatic of such note when it is operated by the trackerboard and pneumatic valves, each individual note mechanism having,preferably,such hightcnsion device separate and independent of all the other notes, although as it is not usual to accentuate two notes that differ by only one semitone it is probably not necessary that the invention should be separately applied to single-note mechanisms only.

The following is one of the simplest forms of construction of the new invention: At a convenient position in front of the sheet-operating rollers is placed a series of accent-controlling pins Z7, which, as illustrated, are in position tobe depressed by the curved bottom of a manually-controlled lever or arm a, which is pivotally mounted upon a sliding support (1, so as to slide along the entire series of pins 1) to accentuate any one or two of them. In the position shown in Fig. 5 a single pin only is aifectedand depressed by the arm 0, which, as seen in Fig. 6, bears directly upon and presses down upon the pin 5 by means of its lower curved surface 0'; but extending laterally from the arm 0 are two depressing-arms c, which, as shown in Fig. 5, do not aifect adjacent controlled pins 5, but which by the turning of the lever-arm 0 may either one of them be brought down to a horizontal position, so as to press upon a large range of pins 1) in either direction above or below the arm o. Notches (1' may be provided in the support (Z, so that the arm a can spring back into the notches and hold the arms 0' in any of the angular positions'desired for accentuating either single notes or ranges of notes. 'An index or finger e is provided upon the sliding support d to point to the trackerboard hole that corresponds to the note that is controlled by the pin 1), upon which the lowersurface'c of the arm cis operating. The several pins 1) control valves f or palates to open or close the mouths of the pipes or windpassages g. In the form selected for illustration these'passages g are opened by depressing the pins 1) and allowing atmospheric pressure to enter the pipes g. The pipes 9 control a pneumatic and valve h h, which in turn serve to admit high-tension wind or shut it off to and from the passage h. Therefore the space beneath the valve h is connected with the high-tension wind. A bleedhole or small leak for the pneumatic h is provided, as will'bewell understood, for enabling the pneumatic h to instantly drop and close the valve 72. when the controlling pipe or passage g therefor is closed by the corresponding valvef, all of which will. be 'familiar to those skilled in this art.

The pneumatics for operating the strikinglevers or otherwise sounding the notes are shown in familiar form atj, and the passage leading to one of them and controlled in the usual way by a pneumatic-valve 7; is shown atj of a usual form. ihe usual wind connection for the regular and usual operation of one of the pneumaticsj is shown at Z; but this is provided, for reasons which willpresently appear,with a self-closing valve or fiat valve Z, which opens in the direction in which the flow of wind occursfor the usual and well-known operation of the pneumatics. As it is customary to operate these instruments by suctions, the valve is shown opening toward the right, in which direction the air is sucked out from the pneumatic when a note is sounded. A separate chamber or passage Z", communicating with the passage] to the operating-pneumatic, is provided for each note, so that the application of high tension in such chamber may notalfect the other notes than the one intended. High tension is applied through the passage 7t, as already explained, whenever the note is to be accentuated, and is brought into communication with the operating-passage], therefore, as soon as the valve 7; rises by the operation of its pneumatic 7t". The high tension so produced is prevented from drawing from the wind-chest through the passages and l" by the instantaneous closing of the valve I, as will be readily understood.

In order to make the relationship of the accenting mechanism to the ordinary primary and secondary neumatics for the same note perfectly clear, the primary pneumatic m andvalves m m and the passage 1), loading from the tracker-board connections, are shown in Fig. 3.

It will of course be understood that atmospheric pressnre-is admitted in the space 1 above the valve -m",and tension,which should be the same high tension as in the space It' below the valve 7t, exists in the chamber 1. The lower-tension wind, which may of course be controlled and in fluenced by the usual c.\'-

pression -lever and connection, is in commu-.

nication only with the passage 1- and valve 1'.

The operation of the apparatus shown is as follows: In the usual or unaccentuated playing of a note the admission of air at the tracker-board to a passage p raises the primary pneumatic and valves on m" m", shutting off tension from the passage m, which leads to the secondary pneumatic It and allowing the atmosphere to enter through the valve m to raise the secondary-pneumatic It and the valve 7a. Thereupon the lower Wind tension operates the striking-pneumatic through the usual passagej', t, and 1, cansing the note to sound in the normal way, as influenced by the expression-lever and other well-known appliances. If, however, a particular note is to be accentuated by means of the lever c, that lever c presses down the controlling-pin b amladmits the atmosphere to -thepipe or passage g, leading to the accenting-pneumatic h. The consequent raising of the pneumatic 71 and the valve It applies the high-tension wind to the passage 7t leading beneath the valve. 1.1, so that when this-latter valve 7; is raised by'the usual operation just described the high-tension wind operates on the passagej and causes the note to sound strongly with accent and the valve Z closes, so as to shut d the lower wind from the passagej, Of course the secondary valve 7c and secondary pneumatic it close as soon as the tracker-board connection and primary pneumatic have restored normal conditions beneath the pneumatic k. Thereupon the closing of the valve it allows the valve Z to again open ready for the normal operation in the usual manner or ready for the accentuation of the note, as may be next desired.

The starting-lever 33, tempo-lever 32, and expression levers and 31 are too well known to need any further mention.

In Figs. 7 to 11 another form of the invention is shown, wherein in the place of pins mechanically depressed, as before described,

' an elongated slide-valve is used, covering pneumatic-ports for the accenting-pneumatics h h. Some of the parts maybe identical with those shown in Figs. 1 to b, and the E illustration and description thereof need not therefore be duplicated. In these figures the slide-valve r is mounted in front of and directly beneath the tracker-board and'provided with an index e, as before described, for indicating the note to be accentuated. Slide-valve rmoves directly over the open mouth of ports 7", connecting by passages 1' with the pneumatic h. The slider is provided. with an opening 1 for admitting air to as' c one or a few of the ports 9" to cause the acting of the corresponding notes. The primary and secondary pneumatics and the connections with the high-tension wind and the lower wind, as modified and controlled by the expression in the usual way, will be readily understood from Figs. 7 and 11, the operation being as follows: Normally the passages r" are closed by the slide 0", which for this purpose must be approximately twice as long as the roW of openings or ports 0" covered by it. When the passages r are shut 01f from the atmosphere, the accenting-pnenmatic h and the valves which it controls will be in the position shown in Fig. 11; but whenair is admitted to the passage. :r""of the note -to be accented the atmospheric pressure, acting with the passages, raises the pneumatic 7t, openingthevaive h and connecting the pain s'age h', with the high-tension wind. "Under these conditions whenever the corresponding note is played by the raising of the secondarypneumatic It the high tension in the passage h can act upon the passage j fro the pneumatic that actuates the striker for the note in the same manner as before describedin connection with Figs. 1 to 6. When the passage 'r" is again closed by the slide '1, the consequent falling of the pneumatic it shuts off the high wind from the passage h, and the note is then ready to be played in the usual unaccented manner. Of course the slide *1 may have varying forms. The form shown,

however, is extremely simple and it is held in place by guides s. It will be noted that in Figs. 7 to 11 the accenting is controlled by admitting atmospheric air to the ports 9'.

In Figs. 12 to 14 afurther modification is shown in which the accenting is produced by applying suction to the ports corresponding to the notes to be accented. The. suction causes bellows-pneumatic to operate rods to directly actuate the valves which connect the high-tension wind with the secondary pneumatics that control the respective note. The slide-valve, which may here be short, is shown at 15 and is provided, as before, with an index e and with a flexible pipe 2f, connected to it with suction. Each of the ports 25 beneath the slide 25 leads to a bellows-pneumatic t, which is connected by a rod u to operate a lever u and open or close the valve 1;, which connects the passage 72. with the high-tension-wind chamber 1;. The pneumatic k and its valve is, which directly controls the petssage as before, may operate in the same manner as heretofore described to connect the passage 7" either with atmospheric air or with the wind-chamber Z forplaying the note. Whenever, therefore, suction is applied by the pipet and slide 25 to the port t of any note, the bellows 15' raises the rod 31., and consequently the valve 11, and connects the passage ]t with high tension wind. Consequentlywhtncver the note is played by the raising of the valve the high 'tension acts through the passagej to accentuatethe note in a similar manner to that already described.

it will of course be understood that the flexible pipe t is not the neatest or most convenient way of connecting the opening in the valve 6 with the suction; but it is selected" for illustration asone of the simplest connections.

In Figs. 15 to 22 a modification of the invention is shown in which the slide-valve ahd all its connections are arranged beneath the tracker-board and music-rolls and out of sight and in which a lever having a motion shorter than the length of .the tracker-board is employed for operating/the slide-valve and the index. The accenting hand-le'ver'ty is connected by a link, a secondary lever to, and link w with the index 6. It willbe seen logthat the motion of the'lever w is only about one-third of the motion of the index-finger e. The slide-valve takes the formof a hollow piston w and piston-rod x','connecte'd by a link 00" with the lever w. The piston r wd at is tubular and admits air freely from the lefthand end to the piston or valve proper, m. This valve 00 runs in a cylinder-like exhaust case or chamber y, having ports y for each of the notes arranged at such close-intervals that the annular opening of the piston valves may communicate with three or four ports single port,and there is no objection to opening four at once, because there is rarely any objection to acoentin g all notes that happen to be played simultaneously and which do not ditter by more than three semitones... If desired, however, of course the valve may be constructed to only open a single port. The

ports y communicate by pipes y, afcw of striker for each note, is connected, as usual,

with either the atmosphere or tempered or low-tension exhaust-wind by the movement of a pneumatic k and valves k, which are usually and preferably secondary-pneumatic Valves operated through a passage m from primary pneumatics in the well-known way from the tracker-board, as has already been mentioned. The chamber Z communicates, as before, with the tempered or lowtension exhaust-wind chamber Z; but in Fig. 21 a pneumatically-actuated valve o isshown in place of the self-acting'or flap valve Z.

The flap-valve, however, might be used, as understood from the foregoing descriptions. The high wind-chamber c, Fig. 21, also communiecates with the chamber Z through the valve tion with suction-pipe z.

o When, therefore, the movement of' the controlling slide-valve cc opens a port y and admits air to a pipe y, the corresponding pneumatic y, which controls the valves n" and v, operates to open the valve 0 and close the valve o, thereby connecting the chamber Z" with the untempered or high-tension windchamber 1) and closing the connection through valve 1/ to the low ortempered wind-cham- As all these features differ rather in detail than in principle from the forms of the invention already described, they should be readily understood without further description. For the purpose of connecting all the ports' either above or below the piston- -,valve a with atmosphere or with suction at will, and thereby causing them to accentuate at will all the notes above or all the notesbelow the valve 00, the following provisions are made: The ends of the valve chamber or case 3 have a single opening 2, comniunicating with the chamber of a movable cap 2', which covers and is therefore in com munica- Each cap 2 con.- stitutes a valve, which is pressed downward and also guided in its movements bythe piv-.

oted spring-arm 2". In the position shown in Figs. 16, 18, and 19 the cap-valves z connect the .two ends of the valve-chamber y with suction, and therefore only the notes will be accentuated whose ports y connect Details of these conwith the annular opening of the valve w. and receive-atmospheric pressure; but in the position shown in Fig. 22. the arm 2 and valvecap 2 are shown moved backward,so as to uncover the ports, which opens into the'righthand or treble end of the casing 3/, and therefore admit the atmospheric pressure to all'the ports y that are above or on the treble side of the slide-valve :r. Of course a similar movement of the corresponding valve .2" at the bass end would admit air to the bass end, and therefore accent all the notes below those accented by the slide-valve A convenient control of the valve .2" by the person playing the instrument is accomplished by two hidden levers 20 within one of the front boards of the instrument, as seen in Figs. 15, 20, and

2, and each, controlled by two buttons 21. Each lever 20 is mounted on a vertical rockshaft 22, which carries at its lower end an arm 23, engaging the pin 2% in the top of the cap .2. 7 Therefore, pressing the outermost button 21 of either lever 20 moves the arm 23 toward the front of the machine and connects the correspohding end of the casing y with suction, whereas; pressing the inner button 22 moves the arm '23 toward the rear of the machine and opens the corresponding end of the casing y to the "atmosphere to accentuate all the notes at that end.

The invention has been described in connection with manual means for accenting any note, because the invention is simpler and more readily understood in its manual form than when automatic devices'are used independently of the operator. The invention as claimed, however, is not intended to be limited to manual operation. In the broader aspoet of the inventionit is not intended to be limited to any of the forms of mechanism or details illustrated, and, moreover, the specific forms of parts of the invention illustrated and described may obviously be used without other parts of the invention shown and described. The form selected for illustration of the generic invention is one in which the hand-operated slide and lever mechanically' open and close controllingvalves f by means of pins b. in a copendingapplication pneumatic connections under the pres-- ent invention are shown and are specifically claimed, also the details of some other parts of the generic invention.

Having thus described the invention, and without limiting myself to its details, the following is-claimed as new:

1. In musical apparatus, the combination of operating-pneumatics and connections for the respective notes, means for increasing the pneumatic force for'any one of the said pneumatics at will, and means for indicating the note afiected, for substantially the purposes set forth.

2. In musical apparatus, the, combination of operating-pneumatics and connections for the respective notes, means for increasing the pneumatic force for any one oi the said pneu- KOO .matics at will and adjustable means for simisubstantially the purposes set forth.

5. In musical apparatus the combination with the-operaticg-pneumatics and their conn'ections for the several notes, of passages for admitting higher wind tension or pressure to the said pneumatics severa1ly,pneumaticallyoperated valves forthe several'said passages, and means controlled by hand for opening and closing the said passages, for substantially the purposes set forth.

6. In musical apparatus, the combinationwith the operating-pneumatics and their connections for the several notes, of passages for admit-ting higher wind tension or pressure to the said pneu matics severally, pneu maticallyoperated valves for the several said passages, a slide-valve and pneumatic means controlled by the slide-valve for opening and closing any of the said pneum atically-operated valves, for substantially the purposes set forth.

7. In musical apparatus the combination with operating.- pneumatics for playing the several notes, and pneumatic-valves for controlling the said operating-pneumatics, of auxiliary acc'enting-valves and passages for admitting higher wind force to the operatingpneumatics, said accenting-valves and-said first pneumatic-valves both controlling the admission of the higher wind to an operatingpneumatic, pneumatic means controlled by a series of portsor mouths for/operating the said accentingsvalves and a slide-valve for opening and closing the said ports or mouths to accent any given note, for substantially the purposes set forth.

8. In musical apparatus the combination I with-operating-pneumatics for playing the several notes, and pneumatic-valves for controlling the said operating-pneumatics, of auxiliary acoentingevalves and passages for admitting higher wind force to the operatingpneumaties, said accenting-valves and said first pneumatic-valves both controlling the admission of the higherwind to an operatingpneumatic, pneumatic means controlled by a series of ports or months for operating the said accenting-valves, and a slide-valve for opening and closing the said ports or months to accent any given note, and connections and valves for accenting also a series of notes V above or below the said given note, for substantially the purposes set forth.

9. In musical apparatus the combination with operating-pneumatics for playing the several notes, and pneumatic-valves for controlling the said operating-pneumatics, of auxiliary accentingavalves and passages for admitting higher wind force to the operatingpneumatics, said accenting-vvalves and said first pneumatic-valves both controlling the admission of the higher wind to an operatingpne'u'matic, pneumatic means'controlled by a series of ports or mouths for operating the said accenting-valves, means for opening and closing thesaid ports or months to accent any given note, an'dcoacting means for accentuatinga series of notes in determinate relation thereto, for substantially the purposes set,

. p l 35 In testimony whereof I have signed this" forth.

specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. FRANCIS YOUNG.

Witnesses:

-W. G; MANSFIELD,

E. (1.THOMPSON.

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